A coast guard personnel and rescue workers evacuating residents as heavy rains triggered flooding brought by Tropical Storm Bebinca in Rizal town, Occidental Mindoro province on Sunday, Sept 15, 2024. - AFP Photo
MANILA (dpa): Six people have been killed by uprooted trees and more than 200,000 have been affected as tropical storm Bebinca swept through the Philippines, the country's disaster agency said on Sunday.
Two people were still missing and 11 were injured from accidents caused by the storm, it added.
Four of the fatalities were students riding in a large tricycle that was hit by a falling tree in a village in Lanao Del Sur province on Friday, 800 kilometres south of Manila.
In the Zamboanga Peninsula, a 2-year-old girl and a woman were killed when uprooted trees fell on their homes, police said.
Of the affected people, more than 36,000 were displaced and forced to stay in evacuation centres or with friends and relatives, according the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Bebinca slammed the eastern and southern Philippines on Friday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds.
It left the country on Saturday and continued onwards towards southern China, where it is expected to make landfall overnight in the region around Shanghai and the cities of Hangzhou and Ningbo - an area where more than 46 million people live.
More than 600 flights were cancelled at Shanghai's two international airports, state television reported.
The storm is forecast to cause major disruption during the Lunar New Year holiday, when many of the country's 1.4 billion residents travel to visit family.
Warnings of high waves were also in place for coastal provinces such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Authorities warned of rivers bursting their banks in the inland province of Anhui due to the threat of heavy rain.
China was hit by super typhoon Yagi a little more than a week ago, causing severe damage and several fatalities in the south of the country. - dpa
